11 coast. we've got poll closings california idaho, oregon, and washington. in terms of the way that we can characterize these races, in california, which is the largest all nbc news projects that president obrnia. in the state of washington, nbc news also projects that president obama is the winner in the state of washington. in hawaii, p home state projects that president obama has won in hawaii. in nbc news projects that mitt romney has won in states in the nation. and in oregon, the ruling is from hour too early to call.

president obama in the lead in terms of understanding what we are waiting on right now, iowa -- or as i like to think of ohio part of iowa, it's too early to call and in florida, it is too close call. in ohio it is also too close to call. in north carolina, too close to call. in virginia, it is too close to callcas stand at this p of the hour results from polls that just closed, california, washington, and hawaii all going for president obama. mr. romney winning in idaho. oregon characterized as too early to call with obama in the lead. schmidt, we've been talking about how much we can't talk to the poin 's possible that do you think is going on inside that campaign right now? >> well, they are looking at the numbers. they are running their models. they are looking at precinct by precinct are obviously

aware of the coverageware starting token a little bit likely. they are they are not out of it yet and they still know that they are our paths to going to be close úe florida is as close as they expected it to be. they expect to win in florida early in the evening. a couple points up for romney and it's not materializing. but also, rachel, one of the things that chuck todd talked about earlier,y, if the polls are it's highly likely that mitt romney is going to come in with 61% of the white vote. st candidate who got 601 of the white was 1988, 24 years ago, george h.w. bush. when you look at the race tonight, mitt romney can eke out a victory. it's stunning deta how much the couas changed and the cat as it stro fee with the which1 was over 40% :ç for george bush eight short years ago and now it's going to

be in the 20s. even if mitt republicanonal candidate with these numbers and latino community with women voters and it's really going to moments of soul searching i think in the republican party if we're to be party. >> if locking up that much of the white votey to win, cial issues, in terms of economics?just came in called the moment the polls california -- i) >> i have to interrupt you. i'm sorry. we have an apparent winner in north carolina. north carolina, nbc case. that means that not everything is in but nbc news is8 comfortable with calling them the apparent winner in this case. this would be a huge blow to mitt romney if he didn't win it. >> in 1988 george walker bush won the state of

california. california was atrepublican. 1994 proposition 1987 perceived latinos destroyed the party for an entire generation. the party has not recovered and, in fact, itarty. california has been a trend setter for the country and if you look at the republican party nationally with the latino vote, the fact that we're trending in the directi california is deeply, deeply worrying if you're a republican. >> you see, i think that in terms of nonwhite voters latinos, even ans, no one is addressing the issues. i think you've got to address people' interest to get their votes. it's not like we can say that latinos or for that matter african-americans just automatically are est stand for democratic party in us. you go with who addresses your interests. you tend to embrace what embrace

you and i think the soul searching that steve talks about, they've got to deal with, as you said, the social you cannot talk against people's interests. you cannot demonthem marginalize them and say, why you vote for me? because people have self-interest and self-preservation and it would make the democrats have to do more soul searching. but they are not competing for ving those votes because they are j, oh go to bothbut we're not going tointerests. and no one is going to commit that kind of crime against their own self. d tonator claire mccaskill, the candidate, is giving her victory speech. we want to dip into this. >> we have been going full bore for two years and this is such a team. every single par this campaign strategy, work ethic that i'm in awe there were no egos and our team ju whatdone.m[: truly special but

i've got to tell you, i've goto give a shout out to corey and adrian, the campaign manager anda great job. [ applauseu ] okay. then let's get to the meat of thep, bone. and that would be you. that would be all of and what you did, thousandsvolunteers across the state, you decided that you wanted nothing more complicated than your government to reflect your values. [cheers and applause ] i stand in awe in your passion and your commitment and your patriotism and your determination that you are going to have a voice in the united states senate that made yououd. [cheers and applause ] i also stand here

ackn there were hundreds and thousands of votes that were cast for congressman akin. he graciously called 4ñ)me he graciously congratulated me. i recognize his years of public service and patriotism. [ applause ] but all the people that i -- the votes i didn't get today, here's my message to them. i go to washington first as a missourian. i go first as a missourian and lee continue to be a senator that works across the aisle in a bipartisan way to find the comiro to solve problems for every missouri family, not the families that votedor me. >> we're n important call. nbc news projects that the winner in the state of iowa is six electoral votes and a stateery hard fought this year. again, nbc news projecting the

winner in iowa right now. back to claire mccaskill. >> it makes me prouder than complete strangers walking up to grabbing my ha me a word oencouragement, whether it's an elderlyhand at the airport saying i'm going to fight hard for you or the maintenance man claire we've got your back. it is those people -- it is ose salt of th e earth wonderful people that live in the state i love. it is those people will go to washington and fight for with everything i've got. [ applause ] this was an extraordinary campaign for so many reasons. the results are 1l,astounding.

now, i want all of you to own it. you deserve it.u you did it. >> well you're actually looking at that lost and it was tammy duckworth iis who defeated joe walsh. that was a mistake there. tammy duckworth has unseated joe walsh, the republican fought. tammy duckworth is a remarkable woman. she lost both of h served in the veterans administration. th$]is is her s joe walsh. we of the claire mccaskill. her holding on to that speech izbs nothing that anywould happen until todd akin was her running mate. in the middle of claire mccaskill's speech iowa was won

by president obama. we also have another call to make. in the oregon presidential race, nbc news is projecting that in oregon. so in terms of the 11:00 poll closings, president obama won california and washington and hawaii and oregon. mitt romney won in terms of the bigger news reaction that you're seeing here in chicago is to the iowa news and to the oregon news and we have just learned that in the state of ohio, nbc news has projected that president obama has won the state of ohio. president obama has been re-elected for a second term. >> he did it. >> with this call in ohio, it is ao done deal. presiden wo it's 12s past 11:00 p.m.

on the east coast. ohio put him over the top. chris matthews? >> he didn't need stuff. i said this at the beginning o geography is very powerful. i've watched some of the ugly stuff perpetrated by people like donald trump and sununu and the rest of them and edges candidate himsdelf, mitt romney talked about welfare and the former speaker of the house now. that stuff didn't have an effect on the north, apparently. we'll see if it in the south. >> with florida still too call virginia still too close to call too close to call president obama has won. this is live footage of his headquarters in chicago. >> this is a big night for wage earners in this country. i think the history books will show that president obama and his team ran a flawless

campaign. not once did he ever have to backtrack on what he said or meant. clearly well defined early in this campaign t. he stuck with the middle class theme and ran on his record. he ran on his record of accomplishing a generational shift in health care reviving this economy with 32 months of private sector job growth being handed something that no other president has been handed in 70 years in the economy, protecting the big three even when he told the republicans, let's go big and they wouldn't do it. in the face of obstruction, this president is going to goown in history as one of the great ones because of all of the social things that he had to f comments coming from the tea party, president obama wins re-election i think on his record tonight sticking up for american workers. if you look at the map, you will see where unions put their resources is exactly where the president won tonight. he won the rough spell. and he won where he had to win.

a fe campaign. >> i think it's a big night for country when we see against all odds@x the obstruction and the venom. you have this man, the president of the united states birth being question whether he was even a citizen of the country yet not one time did he bow tohera did he feed into the poison and ugliness. he maintai performed against object obstructionists in the house and senate. he brought us back not only from the brink of economic disaster, he brought us back from the ugliness that p become. we have now gone back from the cess pool where we can engage in dignity. re-electing president obama in this atmosphere brought out the best in america. we won tonight and i think it's a great night for america. >> lawrence o'donnell? >> i am just looking at that

crowd in chicago. i was there four years ago when this happened and i for one want to see what they are experiencing for a minute. >> my daughter's out there? >> oh yeah? >> she of winning. >> t outside did in grant park but it not exactly somebody's living room. >> very emotion for a of people. >> looking at this night in chicago and reflecting on this result what do you think the importance of this is for the country? >> we turn the page andv we elect

and in a way president obama and his team tonight, the difference i think is that in the republican party i think this victory will set off a civil war inside the republican party. there's going to be a lot of soul searching. this is a winnable election. the president wasan a flawless campaign at campaign i agree as heance a flawless campaign and so when you look at these losses in the senate seats, you look at the fact that this race is called at a quarter after 11:00 in the east, there's going to be a lot of soul searching and i think a lot of fighting inside the republican party in thed. >> one bit of news i need to communicate, with this win, with re-elected for a second term this means that we can also now project that the democrats have of the senate because the president functions as the tie-breaking vote in the senate

even with the outstanding races still not yet called in the senateyzj# this means with joe biden as vice president, the senate retains -- the senate is retained in democratic control. again, from earlier tonight, the house will be retained in something. we'll wait to see what the at tells you something about the governing environment for a second term of barack obama. i would also just like a point of privilege to say this is an import. was a in terms of policy in terms of civil rights policies, don't ask, don't tell, marriage equality, in terms of economic policy like the stimulus, in terms of the historic historic changorme other wall street reform student loan reform that this president passed. had this presiould have been dialed back along with the rest of hiscy. those policies held on to in this country as we experience almost what is an

inevitable economic rebound. that would have happened with anybody as president. we are coming out of a horrible depression ands as the economy gets better those policies will be in placee part of the new normal in america.+ they would have been clawed back had the presidency goneo the republicans. obama care is here to stay and it means that we got health reform for the first time in 100 years trying to get it. that completely agreeing with the president has anit. >> that. >> with admiration to them they voted for those things. they voted for a pe9 and save the auto industry. they voted for president who would be big enough to bring his secretary of state. they voted for somebody who would get rid of don't ask, don't tell, who wouldives and agenda items and all of the groups that will now him. the other guy -- and i'm not going to knock him. ooks like he he lost now and he did lose --f this information after all of the months that we were covering it. but romney was it's a decision he made that he

was going to get to the far right and it was one that he could not pivot back pton. the hispanic community -- we'll find out the numbers tomorro me like they saw this as a real turn in the road against them. >> in this wholner hung his hat on anything. president obama said i'm with the american workers, i'm w elieved in them and i proved that he would stay with and it was really a campaign of definition a in the closi president was saying, you know who i am, you can trust me. i tell the truth. you know what i say.count on it. and a lot of these celebratingre probably in amazement that this has so fearful of citizens qzunited. united money coming pouriin. this is a tremendous loss for does rule a loss for k and all of those people out there who their way right back it's a big night for the senate a and this should really warm the hearts of those in the country who believe in deba who believe in their next door nehb a storm

here on the eaoast that night in this part of the country and we're seeing who we are as americans. these people tonight are ing the conversation of debate and having issues and cg by is a real wake- republican part progressn this country for ideological advantage. don't do that. the american people don't want it. >> look at the picture democratic party. it actually lo different than the republican party. it just does. it's a crowd out there. a d. >> and i think that that is why you say, how do you d do defeat people voting for the changing their in it. they would say everything that was gained fromrights to -- everything was gained in the last half century, to theradicate that. people said, i've got to established up for president saidv#e became their prop and people defeated the money,rules, they took lines. this was a great

american democracy today. >> melissariat obamaquarters. are we able to actually get melissa harris-perry from that ee some o what this is like but what can us about what it is like there? >> well, obviously excited right now. every called to the senate nk the calling whole election w a bit of a eyó were quite ready for it. this is quite differenutside grant park150,000 people a smaller event. so it's excited but also a littleber. i think, you a bit like a first wedding versus a renewal of the vows righ are, how to govern but the willingness too this president. >> melissa harris-perry, that's very good point. you think about the suspense heading into this event. a lot by what is going to happen based on superstition and whetherc or pessimistic. was not this close to john m 2008 it was soú overwhelming. park fill up but america

(>ating. tonight it was much erent feeling. it is a diffng you, it's a consequential presidency. th b chicago. >> it's about an extraordinary e. the likes of which i have not adulthood. remember what he haddo. to hold on to the ing po it was impossible becausead dividual, thiscandidate, and ws out using what i think is the mostiticalve seen u action established with millions of people over the last four years,specially in his clo where i sta the credit is due to theave to begin w barack obama the person barack obama the the pres who won i think there is a real connection seeing theaina, numerous peo 're not giving up. we're just not giving ieved in it. and they wanted their story to that

a manufactuain. romneyheadquarters chris goings of the thatn mccain is going to you, since this race was called, it here. i heard t crowd as the night went on thasreng tougher and tougher, especially after we saw where michigan went and where pennsylvania went. i think that romney's way that win virginia and obviously conversad i can tell you from the republican perspective, i'm hearing three things occur believe that that was ÷v nearly fatal to th strategiion define and they feel he wasnd several pple io dend, pt for thelaar almostnothnks very schmidt made a sta of this that i t im that is, what lection? i've talked to a lot of people, people who are not exactly pa in h astute politica;/ould accept the e this loss and this iswhat happens i eh partye and whether they ris8o really about whether people at their country, whether they are rejectionists e or ther when that

prospect that we could aher as a with each partisanssing day in our politics together faith in believe that this is the way that should be decided in our on once actually hato start tonight from the romney cign. anht -- f john mccain but ddresses t th just isn't. certainligration theith some #.he tobviously.are alrt way get things toead. fiscal issues, numbers are great. you can really th parties right i think yy-ou are going find some goes for mitt ro no it's relevant tonightc beca t the comes out$sh without any o whatar going to! happen. >> p some kind oom month. to hisñtonight, we are all in this that a than w coming from from a position s terms of the country working together in the hat mitt romney says will beo whatw4 the president says will be e popular vote constitutionallyesid the country who didn't voteor of the democratirty. he's t of the u acluding the onnd

move new direction after re-election. >> but i is keepucting astnd leground be some of eeds to be able tmo forward. yes, we need teachsot things for t re say thase win. so on the table for a grand because that we've guunite the people. >> this is a real opportunity for t nd on. go asáq atr i've we ajç bunch o geographically you're still going to own the house but the thrw i'm looking forward to hearing what mitch mcconnehe one who set the tone for from dgkobama. what's his ng t jimdemint. to come to some kind of consensus to put the count ofublicany are goie. opportunity here for republi leadership, th you're talking about, coming from presi not be able to hear onald trump tweeting out, this a totaltravesty. we are not a you are not going ttonighs thegr point of the republican and thepresident, notkr only was

that not appropriate, it didn't work. who's going tng# d because of but said i that's buddy. and you lost in very red sñetate and very red time for indiana. i don't know who has the credibility in the republican party to have that conversation and i we'@pre year. i don't see wherefrom. cconnell. it's his decision to have. he's the who kno is not senate tonight because of the tea is -- that is a republican of these force. guys and will still be trapped by the tea party.cconnell i'm not sure how he y toeasonable direction. cannot be done. hat happens with pure. happens every person on january 1st it stays get the bigge defense if on the other hand you go to work, as mcconnell knows that he's going to have to theirstk to

go up so negotiate what they willl call a tax cut of most of the rates and the president is going to it's not too early do it. is he stronge pointedout,ht wing areor 5 right now. f the andtire mcconnell. >> we will summarize this formal way. but winning and brown beating josh mandel.eating akin, and bob re-election in pennsylvania, bill nelson winningflor o by the angus king replacing he we still don't have a call still too close tstabenow winning.

still waiting on monta and north dakota. >> both rig call. >> the president has only lost tworond indiana, compared to what he was facing unemployment the democratic re-elect in recent terms, it was bill clinton and he was 18 points ahead of b that campaign and bob dole was a great guy and well liked by democrats but he was not a challenging presidential candidate to go up against and clinton won that with less than 50% of the vote. >> i romney campaign is not conceding the romney campaign is not conceding ohio. that was my mistake. kelly o'donnell is reporting that the state director in ohio nformed us that they do not believe thatdecided. ohio is president obama andt was what put him over the top to

victory tonight butaign so far says, not so fast. we'll see what we can do to get somebody from the romney campaign to he can plain that to us in terms of a republicanx echo chambeon this, they are deciding that this is not over. so what we're loampaign headquarters that believes it is over. i tell you that nbc news projects that it is over but that is not the same truth on the other side of the o thy political campaign. people have i think any campaign has a right to sit there, to let the votes be counted it's this to have to sink in a little bit writing is clearly on the wall. the concede in due time here i think over the next hour or rks at this hour have called the state of they don't accept those calls but we wiletary of state in oh that state, jon husted he's been at height of the middle ofought battles over access to the polls in ohio for this election.

>> steve, is it youreeling that you ran a presidential campaign against whats has turned out to be the best presidenti campaign team that ecentyw memory? this team obama, what they didvm four years ago coming from nowhere and what they've done again and it's a great team and what they've accomplished the sñ four years ago, they came into a general election against senator mccain. it was the worst republican environment i think in modern 2008 wasn't a great year for republican. but this was one of the most challenging environments for an incumbent president eyes. >> and they have won the race divisively. >> do it again in this environment. >> with the romney campaign not conceding, we're going to go to kelly o'd with the latest he romney campaign and what is going on here with this election in good evening,47

rachel. what we' told is that the people on the ground who have been looking at the results around cincinnati believe that according to the.s romney is not over yet. so while they know theis happening i president will be re-elected when it comes to ohio, at this hour on this night in ohio, they are not yet ready to say that romney's chances in the state ar short-term issue. it may be an issue that when all of the votes are counted, then now, and they believe it's important, that for now not are ways where they believe romney has outperformed john mccain years ago or matched ago. chuck todd has been crunching our numbers.he teams who have been working those nurks but i'm simply passing on to you that the romney campaign is saying that ohio is not yet at least from their look of the books. >> the states rather than just from thewhether the romney's complaints

here are their retisence to not go along with the calls is founded? >> reporter: they are in areas where the gop has so this earlier tonight in talking to the statel and we've secretary of state, they have said it would likely be a late night to get all of the data. the projections, of course, have worked on long models that usually hold up on nights like this. we've seen it before where campaigns are let go. they have assets on the ground telling them a different story. so at least for th moment it may be team believes that ohio is not beyond it reach athis point. >> kelly o'donnell, thank you so much. i really apprecielp wi of what we know from ohio and in terms of the i atrium of the ohio state house. they are there to reporthhan on thethe secret hustedt has been reported in terms of the calls by the various networks of

president obama winning the state but he acknowledged, if you look at the trends of still outstanding ballots in the state, you can probably come to a pretty good conclusion. secretary of state jon husted terms of them counting the ballot, he did not sayq it's done but iok at what is remaining, you can come tohen he commentary gave no official word and left himself an out. he left the barn door wide open for him to get out somehow. that's some kind of romney camp. there was so much energy put intoy really thought they hamean discussions we earlier today, both camps were confident that they were going to win this thing. tonight it'smp. >> and important point because it wasn't confidence. acting. the romney campaign believed with strong conviction that he

was going to be elected the 45th president of the united states / the republicans in the c conservatives in the country, repub into today that romney was going to be re-elected as so there's there's in and it of timpaign to get around. >> i have two senate calls make sure that i get first inarizona, richard carmona and jeff flick flake, arizona is the projected winner. mexico, martin heinrich, a democrat defeatingon in mexico. one call in arizona and one for new mek co-. what t martin even without vice president biden, the democrats retain control of the united states senate as the house goes to the republicans. >> i think it's another example issues

and they r the pol the fact that they have all done so well in a difficult time for democrats to run for office, we have 8% unemployment and they were these victories andway, donald trump is calling for revolution. the strange don't we have a patriot#t act or something like that? >> if he was just a it would be different but -- >> the candi party went out and he was a big part of the team and the president -- i'm sorry. thee never said, enough, donald. this isn't what we do in this think it's a shame that they did that. >> i want to know -- and i don't mean to cross here but fox newschann called ohio

for president obama but the on air it. karl rove is saying that thi is not over. >> the people who are wearing makeup and having cameras po is putting i want to bring in chuck todd now. first, i want to ask you what you make of the romney campaign refusing to concedethis is going to become something that is a contested call. >> well, one thing i want to do isur folks are fairlyonfident in the ohio call. this is cuyahoga county. here. and the total vote reported in cuyahoga, i want to show you the total vote is. this is what it was in 2008 as you can s5there's over 100,000, if not 150,000 and the level in

calling ohio. let's not forget a few other things going on here. see ray areas here? i can pull them up very quickly. as you can see, thelead is holding herean go back here. he's leading in nevada. he's leading iow. actually, he's pulled ahead in virginia, which we haven't had in a while. and it's but he has 22,000 votes. separate them. right now we're extraneous numbers at this point president leads in flor is okay let's say there's something whack cuyahoga and the cuyahoga number don't go the way -- the way ours go. there's colorado, nevada, florida, virginia that are all ever so slightly appe trending towards the president. you'd rather be with these few precinct dyremaining. you'd rather be the president ditto with >> this is kind of a amazing. i will say that this cannot go unremarked

trying to get on air the fox newschannel to rescind its call inhi candidate that he has rolled to the tune of hundreds d thousands of dollars. >> this goes to the point that i've been making quite a bit there was going church of one not going to lost. just feeling of greed that they oing to have a large republican base it. they were told that the polls were skewed for weeks, that there was something wrong with the polling and that there's wrong here. thatt's t pretend that it doesn't. it's going to be interesting to watch the republican party -- bob corker, lindsay graham the yingcnd. this was a d shalacking that to parts of it. there's money to be made in the conservative wing of the party to sort of up. prediction now, is it too early how té> well here's the raw popular vote right yut we haveall the -- most ik>sof the uncounted vote is west coast.

it's cala. ik have --ve in our broilere ercentage point popular vote victory, if you will whenll is said and done which, by theast4ñasg it out there. look, we took -- everybody beat up on pollsters this year. we worked spent a lotf money and time to do quality work and i think sometimes -- in gets mixed up with folks who e i >> there'1%. we have to wait and see.getthe other -- i think a of us thoughtvirgil get more than see the number come in, barelery much. >> peopl he could be the only presid democratic the civil war fdr to get twoelections -- 50%. a president who has had this hard fight to holdl1 president, even to keep the legitimacy i right,6ç the only one after get two 50% wins. that chuck just touched on there, which is w somethin there's not a mirror image onlly but

it's not happening right now and that is the questio to be upon data. it'sssing the romney tax plan is to attack the taxf@ a bunch of communist. gold research for congressional -- four members of congressally eople and wds to economic growth. that report coming out and the senate republicans say they want it rescinded. they don't like beca says. the unemployment rate drops to 8%. people decide it isn't below 8%.abor must be full of a bunch of communists and theorists that the polling clearly showed president obama not just winning nationally but president obama winning in all o states that were going to put together the victory that you theyhat they were going to re-elect oll be the answer ery idea ssues and that'ss, frankly, when the news cycle. bue the election, i do not believe that there is do not believe that a way that is observable and tru checkable and we all follow that, even when we don't lik

thedb something any sortfu]ó of questioning ohio 2004 with the democrs 2000 with the democrats and the way thempaign when they say that they have problems with what has gone on in but when to decide that a resul because up don't like therkgether as a country anymore and cannotes ghis road. >> we've heard in the democratic party that romney's the polls you ith all of the restriction. president obama and we're not going there. we're going to go ahead.oter stuff was opportunity andof thihappened, we have got to policies of this party and if they don't develop mature now, they marginalize forong time to come. >> i the people that votedtonight, i power move tonight. i think that opportunity for the pr

forward. >> that's right. >> and i have olive branches out of the white house. my first four